WEBVTT - Rehabilitation | EP 9 | Saskia's Story 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.840 Hi everyone, Andre here, I have some exciting news to share. 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:09.040 ABC has turned Betrayal Weekly into an eight episode anthology, 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:12.799 which means each episode features one of your favorite Betrayal 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:16.480 Weekly stories. You'll get to see the people involved, hear 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.840 from people who have never spoken before, and actually see 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:23.479 where the story took place. We are so proud and 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:27.080 excited to share it with you all. It's called Betrayal, 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:30.800 Secrets and Lies, and you can watch it every Sunday 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:35.440 at ten pm Eastern Standard time, nine pm Central. Please 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:41.199 check it out. There is a corner of the criminal 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:45.519 justice system that you won't find on court documents. It 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:50.920 doesn't involve judges, prosecutors, juries, it doesn't even involve laws. Really. 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:55.000 It's called prison consulting. You might have heard about it 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.600 on the news. Harvey Weinstein is preparing for prison. 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:02.480 He recently hired a consultant who is helping guide him 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:03.560 on what to expect. 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:05.759 Bernie Madoff has hired a prison consultant. 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.080 Actress Lori Laughlin has reportedly hired a prison consultant. 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.959 Luigi man Joni Martha Stewart. NFL player Michael Vick has 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:16.880 hired a prison consultant. Willis new prison consultant tip the 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:22.479 scales in his case. Prison consultants assist people who are 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:26.600 facing time. Many of these consultants promote their services on 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:27.840 YouTube and TikTok. 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:29.200 Have you been indicted? 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:31.800 You think you're gonna be indicted? You need someone who 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.399 speaks inmates and institutions. 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:36.319 So if you are a. 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:39.319 Loved one that's been recently arrested, you can go ahead 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:39.760 and text me. 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:41.119 I'll be happy to help you in any. 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:44.760 Way I can for the right price. Prison consultants will 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.640 advise those facing time on how to get a lesser 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.600 sentence or how to get out of jail early. They'll 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:54.080 tell you what programs to join and what gangs to avoid. 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:59.680 Many of these consultants have served time themselves, often for 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:03.880 fine antil crimes or nonviolent offenses. But what if the 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:07.960 person giving out that advice was a convicted rapist? What 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:25.880 if they were someone like Mike Levengood. I'm Andre Gunning 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:35.080 and this is Betrayal, Season five, Episode nine, Rehabilitation. For Saskia, 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:39.359 this crime didn't just take an emotional toll. It devastated 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:43.359 her financially, especially when it came to paying for her divorce. 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:46.720 I'd always learned you'd never touch your four O one K, 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:49.359 like you always need three months of bills in the 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:51.880 bank just in case a rainy day, and I'd always 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:54.519 live by that. And I had to kind of throw 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:58.200 that out the window to fight this. I remember the 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:00.840 first withdrawal I made was for sixty ten thousand dollars 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:05.120 and that was just for attorney's bills up to that point. 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.240 In the end, the divorce cost her about one hundred 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:13.560 thousand dollars. It's a financial hole she's still crawling out of. 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.520 All of this got us thinking about Mike's financial status, 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:21.880 how he's doing today after this crime. So we did 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:28.680 some digging and what we found surprised us. By early 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:32.600 twenty twenty one, Mike had served his sentence. He was 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.560 released from jail and put on probation. One of the 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:41.280 many standard conditions of probation is getting a job, and 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:45.080 for Mike that wouldn't be easy, not only because of 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.800 his conviction, but because of his resume. 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:53.520 He was very smart yet a master's degree. He was 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.880 working as vice president of marketing for Bank of America, 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:59.800 So I mean he made a good salary. 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.840 It was more than a good salary. Before his conviction, 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:06.720 he was making between two hundred and two hundred and 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:10.560 fifty thousand dollars a year. He was an executive, and 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:13.920 a good one. If you look at his LinkedIn recommendations, 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:19.080 he was well liked and respected. One recommendation reads. 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.440 He's not only a tremendous professional, he's also a person 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:26.200 of integrity, kindness, and old school values. 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:30.000 While another says Mike is a top notch professional and 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.880 a pleasure to work with. Even during his sentencing hearing 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:38.120 and after pleading guilty to second degree rape, a former 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:40.159 colleague showed up to defend him. 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:42.880 As long as I've learned Mike, he's really always been 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:47.919 an outstanding character of people, grow mentoring, providing kindness, and 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:49.599 a good will towards people. 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:51.160 Nice is the jumble soul. 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.320 It's one of the hardest things to wrap your head 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:01.400 around the fact that someone can commit a disturbing personal 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.880 crime and people will still line up to call them 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:11.159 kind and gentle. Most sex offenders struggle to find any 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.960 work after they get out. When they do, it's usually construction, 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:19.159 waste management, or warehouse gigs. But Mike had a plan. 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.159 In fact, he had it before he went to jail. 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.599 During his sentencing hearing back in twenty nineteen, his lawyer 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:28.440 shared that plan with the judge. 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:32.360 He has started an LLC so that he can provide 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:36.040 consulting to businesses using the information and knowledge that he 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.679 had from his career, and hopefully not let the record 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.880 be an impediment to some companies hiring him. Because he 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.480 can use the LLC, he'd use. 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:49.039 His expertise in banking and marketing to support himself financially, 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.120 and by running that business through an LLC, his clients 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:57.400 could work with him without the bad pr Then, in 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.520 February of twenty twenty one, out of jail, and a 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:04.640 month later he filed a trade name application for a 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:09.920 new company. But this company wasn't a business consulting firm. 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:16.400 It was Smith and Good Associates. According to their legal 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:20.039 business filing, Smith and Good is a consulting firm for 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:24.240 individuals in the criminal justice system, which is just another 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:28.400 way of saying prison consultants. We wanted to learn what 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:32.280 this industry was all about, so we called up an expert. 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:37.000 My name is John Fuller. I started my prison consulting 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:39.320 business in two thousand and four. 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:45.160 Like a lot of prison consultants, John has a criminal past. 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:49.839 That since the ten years for conspiracy to possess with 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:52.160 intent to distribute. 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.440 He did time for drug and forgery charges. But since prison, 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:57.919 John's built quite the career for himself. 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:04.839 I've worked primarily with white collar criminals, professional athletes, entertainers, 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:07.839 mostly high profile individuals. 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:12.960 Multiple outlets say he coached Martha Stewart when she was 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:16.440 heading to prison. He didn't comment on that. But no 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.400 matter the client, his job is essentially the same. 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:23.160 I prepare my clients on things that they should do 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:31.320 before incarceration, ways they should behave during incarceration, and any 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:36.320 assistance or the reality of their circumstances post incarceration. 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:44.560 Every prison consultant offers different services. Some explain sentencing guidelines 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:49.160 or strategized on getting their clients' lesser sentences. They facilitate 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:53.360 mock trials and in some cases assist in writing remorse 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:58.240 letters to victims. Others focus on eliminating the unknowns of prison, 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:03.160 what the foods the fellow inmates might be like, and 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.480 they also explain those unknowns to family members who are 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:10.080 scared for their loved one. But John is the first 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:13.640 to admit there are a lot of unethical people in 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:14.400 his industry. 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:20.600 What ninety percentities of the prison consultants are doing. They'll 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.920 make promises and tell you that they can save your life. 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:28.800 In our reporting, we spoke to several prison consultants. Every 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:31.120 one of them had something to say about the others. 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.040 But John brought up a lot of interesting examples of 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:37.280 how other consultants will say they can gain the system 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:39.000 to their client's advantage. 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:43.280 For instance, they'll lie and charge you fifteen twenty thousand 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:45.960 dollars and tell you as soon as you get to 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:49.200 the prison they can get them in a residential drug 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:51.120 and alcohol program. 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:54.280 You might be wondering, why would anyone who doesn't use 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:59.080 drugs or alcohol pay twenty thousand dollars for addiction treatment. Well, 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.280 John says can be part of a larger strategy. 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:05.079 Because if you can get into the residential drug and 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:09.880 alcohol program, you can get eighteen months to three years 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:10.920 off your sentence. 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:13.959 So of course they're gonna go that route. 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:18.120 And this wise guy of a prison consultant says, we're 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:22.120 gonna lie and you're gonna tell your probation officer that 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.440 you do use drugs. You do use alcohol as a 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:28.760 matter of fact, go report next week with the smell 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:32.280 of alcohol on your breath and that's what's gonna qualify 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:37.040 you for the residential drug and alcohol program. 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.440 A few years ago, a prison consultant pled guilty to 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:44.280 conspiring to defraud the Federal Bureau of Prisons for running 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:48.600 that exact scam. But John says that's not the only 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.120 scam people in his industry are operating. 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:58.040 These prison consultants are literally stealing money from people, saying, 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.240 you're not gonna do any time, but if you don't 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:06.319 pay me this ten fifteen, twenty twenty five thousand dollars 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:09.200 within the next thirty six hours, I can't help you. 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:15.720 And the client is so scared that he's going to 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:16.160 do it. 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.760 Mike declined our requests for comment, so we don't know 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:24.600 how much Smith and Good charges or the specific strategies 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:29.040 they use, but on their website they do advertise a 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:33.160 wide variety of services. They support clients in mitigating their 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:37.800 sentences and prepping for their time behind bars. They also 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:42.640 provide guidance on parole hearings and sex offender registry requirements. 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:45.480 But there's one line that stands out to me on 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:49.080 the Smith in Good homepage. I had my producer Trey 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:49.480 read it. 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:53.800 We emphasize the importance of rehabilitation, how to do this 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.640 safely at the Department of Corrections, and what loved ones 0:10:56.679 --> 0:11:00.640 can do to support rehabilitative efforts. It also with a plan. 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:04.439 It's not for us to say whether Mike was rehabilitated 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:08.440 while behind bars, but we can say that Mike had 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:13.400 a plan for himself. Very soon after Mike got out 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:16.720 of jail, he had a business name, address, and tax 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:20.440 id number, and on top of that, he found himself 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:24.320 a business partner. His associate is a former army ranger 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.640 with a criminal pass of his own. But unlike Mike, 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:32.040 he wasn't a sex offender. He was charged with murder, 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:58.680 and when questioned by detectives, his story changed three times. 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.920 In twenty twenty one, Saska's ex husband, Mike Levin Goood, 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:10.840 started a prison consulting firm, Smith and Good Associates. He 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.680 was the Good in the business name, as in Levin Goood, 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:19.040 and the Smith was Gary James Smith. Gary has experience 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:22.160 with the system too, but his journey is a lot 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:26.480 more complicated. We're going to take a detour into Gary's 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:30.480 story because it brings up some very important questions about 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:35.200 the kind of business Mike is operating in two thousand 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:38.840 and six. Gary was a young veteran, an Army ranger 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:42.160 fresh out of the military. As a judge said of 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:43.480 him at trial, there. 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:46.160 Are many examples in mister Smith's life where he was 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.920 a good person. He was a mentor to young soldiers. 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:53.600 He was promoted the rank of sergeant fairly quickly, which 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:57.160 is no easy tax. He was assigned to a very 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:00.959 responsible unit with a very important job in the defense 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:05.640 of this country. But when good people do bad things, 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.600 they have to be held accountable. He made a horribly 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:13.720 bad decision, and in making that decision, it crossed the 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:16.080 life of another young man. 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.640 That young man was twenty two year old Michael McQueen. 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:26.160 He was also an Army ranger an intelligence analyst. He 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:30.720 and Gary served several tours together in Afghanistan. When they 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.040 came back to the US, they moved in together. The 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.960 queen's friends and family said he was excited to be home. 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.320 He had plans to go to college, then law school, 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:44.920 become a sports agent. But then in the early morning 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:48.880 hours of September twenty six, two thousand and six, Michael 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:52.240 McQueen was found dead. He had a gunshot wound to 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.560 the head. His roommate, Gary Smith, was the one to 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.000 call nine one one. You're about to hear that call. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:00.320 In it. 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:04.360 Gary is distraught. The nine one one operator could barely 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:26.320 understand him. If you'd like, you can skip ahead thirty seconds. 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:42.600 What's the problem there. 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:50.200 When the cops arrived, Gary remained inconsolable. He insisted he 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.880 had nothing to do with McQueen's death, but the police 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:59.040 they didn't buy it because Gary was covered in McQueen's 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:06.560 blood and that wasn't all. Here's the prosecutor a trial's. 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:10.040 Outside at this point, over the top, uncontrollably crying and 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.840 they were officers. Well, Sargeant said, I know she was 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.160 crying loudly, but there. 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:15.880 Were no tears coming. 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:21.520 And each time the authorities pressed Gary, he changed his story. 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:26.720 During the investigation, he gave three very different versions of 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:31.480 what happened that night. Story number one came the first 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:34.680 time the police asked Gary what happened. He said he 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:38.560 wasn't even home at the time of McQueen's death. They'd 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.920 been out drinking and Gary dropped McQueen at their apartment 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.600 before running out for a quick errant. Here's Gary on 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:47.240 the police interrogation tapes. 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:48.840 He went upstairs. 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:52.600 I said, I to go pick up some queen socks. 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:56.480 I drove over my mother's house, crabt the logic, bask 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.800 good for clothes. Put him in my car. Turning about 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:03.320 it went back to the house that went stared open 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:07.040 the door. I saw Mike sitting in a chair, and 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:08.600 I saw blood up over the place. 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:14.600 Maybe it was a suicide, or maybe someone killed McQueen. 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.600 Gary offered a few possible theories of who could have 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:22.480 done it, some neighbors McQueen had argued with, or maybe 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.840 a drug dealer in the building. Gary said when he 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:30.440 found McQueen, there were no weapons nearby. He kept all 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:34.160 of his guns at his mom's house, but later he 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:38.680 told officers something very different. Here's story number two. 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:47.400 I came home. Michael was dead, gumbles in his hands. 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.960 It was Gary's gun. He knew his fingerprints would be 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:57.320 all over it. Anti panicked, going best. 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:02.640 I realized he was dead. I got back to my car. 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:05.719 I drove to la and Evily and I threw here 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:08.280 I need to preach. I got back from my car. 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:09.960 I drew back to my house. 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:15.399 Gary confessed that before calling nine to one one, he 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:18.600 took the time to get rid of the weapon. He said, 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:20.120 he threw the gun in a lake. 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:23.600 I was so scared he was dead. 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:25.640 He was dead, and it was mind ol. 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:26.880 I left that gun there. 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:28.879 It was my going. 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:31.239 I didn't pop it up. 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:37.440 Now Gary was suddenly sure this had to be a suicide. 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:41.959 And then there was story number three, also a suicide. 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:46.000 But in this third account, Gary didn't come home to 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:50.600 find McQueen dead. He was in the apartment when McQueen 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:55.680 fired the gun. The prosecutor summarized this version for the court. 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:58.159 Says, he comes in, he puts a gun on the floor, 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:00.960 he was back in the bathroom, who came out, and 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.679 Mike killed himself. And then even of story three, he 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.520 gives different versions of that I put on the table, 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:09.399 I was here, I did see it, I didn't see it. 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:11.560 I might have been closed, I might not have been closed. 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:16.879 Three different stories and one dead man. And with each version, 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.920 Gary moved a little closer to the scene, from nowhere 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:24.320 near the apartment and no gun in sight, to finding 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:27.120 the gun and throwing it in a lake, to being 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:31.520 inside the apartment when his friend died. The problem with 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:34.800 all three versions, none of them clearly lined up with 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:39.439 the forensic evidence, and the interpretation of that evidence was 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:43.800 heavily debated by both the prosecution and the defense. There 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:48.159 was no confession, no eyewitness testimony. There was only this 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:52.800 evidence in Gary Smith's word. And it's important to say 0:18:52.840 --> 0:19:00.159 here Gary Smith is white, Michael McQueen was black. Nine 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:04.840 years of proceedings, in two separate appeals, Gary Smith finally 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:07.480 entered what's known as an Alfred plea. 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.399 An Alfred plea is essentially a guilty plea where you 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.879 say that I'm not saying that I did it, but 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.679 I acknowledge that there's a sufficient evidence in order to 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:19.400 find me guilty. 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.520 That's Max fris Loan, a defense attorney in Maryland and 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:25.920 the founder of Friswood's Criminal Defense. 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:28.879 So you have somebody who spent years in jail, the 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.520 state has put on multiple criminal trials of pen numerous 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:34.800 witnesses who have testified multiple times under oath, and so 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:38.520 sort of the whole entire goal of an Alfred plea 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:41.880 is that the person's found guilty, but the person themselves 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:45.760 doesn't have to say it, but ultimately it is a conviction. 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:50.280 An Alfred plea is a compromise. The state still gets 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:53.920 a conviction, but the defendant gets the ability to maintain 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:57.960 their innocence. Plus. As part of the plea, Gary's legal 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:01.920 team negotiated his charges down significantly. What was once a 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:06.240 murder charge was now reckless endangerment and he got sentenced 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:10.879 to time served. In the end, Gary Smith served just 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:18.240 six years behind bars. We reached out to Gary for comment, 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:21.400 but he didn't respond to our call. The same goes 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:26.359 from Michael McQueen's family. When Gary Smith was released, he 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:29.600 also quickly got a job. He went to work for 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.119 the very law firm that had defended him. He's even 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:35.600 used in the firm's promotional materials. 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:38.040 Hi, I'm Gary. I'm a law clerk here at the 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:39.360 office of Jessega Moise. 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:41.159 I served six years in prison. 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:42.760 Before that, I was an army ranger. 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:44.520 If you were a loved one who'd been charged with 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:46.960 a crime, base get our office as a call and 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:47.919 we'd love to help you. 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:54.600 And now I'm happy to say that Gary works for 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:57.080 me full time as a law clerk on all my 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:00.640 homicide cases and my serious fellon cases. 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:05.439 That's Andrew Jessick, Gary's boss, speaking on his firm's YouTube channel. 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:08.200 I'm proud of him, and I think we were able 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:10.720 to show in the end that Gary was innocent and 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:13.520 that Gary deserved to get every break that he could. 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:16.679 And now he's married, he's got a child, he's my lockerck, 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:18.560 he's going to go to law school, and he's hopefully 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:19.800 going to be my partner one day. 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:24.200 If that boys sounds familiar, it's because you've heard it before. 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:28.480 Every scene has. 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:31.720 A past and every sinner has a future, and Mike. 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:36.639 The great hearts of him will continue and dominate for 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:40.399 the rest of his life. 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:44.600 Andrew Jessick was also Mike levin Goood's defense attorney. He 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:48.840 also didn't return our call. In many ways, Gary and 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:52.160 Mike had a lot in comment. Both of their cases 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:55.400 ended in a mess of legal technicalities, and they were 0:21:55.440 --> 0:22:00.760 both convicted, but they each maintained their innocence in spite 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:05.280 of the judge's ruling. It's no wonder then that these 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:09.160 two became partners, that they came together to help other 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:12.960 people like them. On the Smith and Good site, they 0:22:13.040 --> 0:22:15.600 invite people to reach out and give them a call. 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:21.720 So I called them up and surprisingly answered. 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:47.960 By twenty twenty one, both Mike Levinood and Gary James 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:52.959 Smith had served their sentences, and together they launched Smith 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:57.680 and Good Associates, built on their experiences with and contacts 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:03.520 within the criminal justice system. On the surface, their business 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:07.400 is like any other consulting firm. They've got clean headshots 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:10.760 and a polished website with a promise to help guide 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:15.480 clients through a confusing system. But behind the branding there's 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:20.040 a convicted rapist and a man convicted in connection with 0:23:20.119 --> 0:23:23.560 the death of his friend, and both are charging money 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:28.879 to consult criminal defendants. We've confirmed through legal documents that 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:32.080 the firm has been employed by Jessic and Moees, the 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:40.399 criminal defense firm Mike and Gary both used. On one hand, 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:45.160 all of this is perfectly legal. Gary and Mike serve 0:23:45.240 --> 0:23:49.119 their sentences and there's nothing stopping them from creating a 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:53.000 business like this. In fact, in the eyes of the 0:23:53.200 --> 0:23:56.040 justice system, it might even be a good thing. 0:23:56.720 --> 0:23:59.000 At some point, you do have to earn enough money 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:00.480 to comply with probation, right. 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:04.520 That's Max frizz Alone, the lawyer you heard from earlier. 0:24:05.160 --> 0:24:07.639 He's referring to something we discussed at the top of 0:24:07.640 --> 0:24:11.440 the episode that X cons are required to hold down 0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:14.080 a job as part of the terms of their probation. 0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:17.280 For a lot of people who have been convicted of crimes, 0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:21.680 especially crimes of violence sexual offenses, traditional employment might be impossible. 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:24.240 You know, you're unlikely to get through a background check 0:24:24.280 --> 0:24:26.919 if you have a prior violent felony, or you know 0:24:26.960 --> 0:24:29.520 you're a sex offender, so you might have to get 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:32.159 creative about how to keep making money. 0:24:32.840 --> 0:24:37.040 And making money doesn't just benefit the offender, it benefits 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:40.400 their families, who often suffer from the lack of income 0:24:40.480 --> 0:24:44.399 that comes with their relatives incarceration. But the idea that 0:24:44.720 --> 0:24:49.040 X cons are now profiting from that past raises a 0:24:49.040 --> 0:24:52.359 lot of moral, ethical, and legal questions. 0:24:52.840 --> 0:24:58.000 One of the pitfalls and problems with the industry is 0:24:58.320 --> 0:25:01.840 your qualification for the job is the fact that you 0:25:01.960 --> 0:25:02.919 committed a crime. 0:25:04.359 --> 0:25:08.520 That's Trey Morgan, one of my producers. He's been reporting 0:25:08.520 --> 0:25:11.520 on crime for eight years now and he did a 0:25:11.560 --> 0:25:15.679 lot of the investigation for this episode. One of the 0:25:15.680 --> 0:25:18.880 biggest problems he sees with this industry is that there's 0:25:18.960 --> 0:25:22.320 no certification process to become a prison consultant. 0:25:22.840 --> 0:25:26.680 I mean, almost every other industry that deals with our 0:25:26.840 --> 0:25:30.720 criminal justice system has some sort of licensing and some 0:25:30.760 --> 0:25:36.400 sort of board that establishes rules and guidelines, but for 0:25:36.440 --> 0:25:43.800 some reason we have decided that this one doesn't need oversight. 0:25:45.000 --> 0:25:48.359 A lot of these crimes are about control, and being 0:25:48.400 --> 0:25:53.280 a consultant puts you in a position of power. And 0:25:53.320 --> 0:25:57.040 then there's the concern of people like Mike getting close 0:25:57.119 --> 0:26:03.200 with fellow criminals. Remember started this business immediately after getting out. 0:26:03.880 --> 0:26:07.800 For sex offenders like Mike and violent offenders like Gary, 0:26:08.640 --> 0:26:12.200 the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, they 0:26:12.359 --> 0:26:16.720 encourage limiting contact with other offenders, and the goal there 0:26:16.800 --> 0:26:19.480 is really I mean, it's common sense to reduce the 0:26:19.600 --> 0:26:23.199 risk of reoffending, especially right when you get out of 0:26:23.240 --> 0:26:24.080 jail or prison. 0:26:25.400 --> 0:26:29.560 Mike and Gary working together likely goes against that advice. 0:26:30.440 --> 0:26:33.879 So would Mike consulting other convicted felons while he was 0:26:33.920 --> 0:26:37.960 still on probation. Maybe there's a world where I could 0:26:37.960 --> 0:26:41.080 get past all of that. Mike and Gary did serve 0:26:41.160 --> 0:26:44.160 their time. They're technically free to do whatever they want 0:26:44.200 --> 0:26:47.120